Three days after violence flared across Mexico following the killing of a drug cartel leader, flights are resuming from a key Pacific resort.
All flights to and from Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara were grounded when criminal gangs went on the rampage to avenge the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. “El Mencho”, as he was better known, lost his life during an operation by the Mexican military.
Tens of thousands of Americans and Canadians are currently in Puerto Vallarta after their flights home were cancelled.
Services are now resuming on some airlines. Air Canada put out a statement saying: “Following consultation with the government of Canada and Mexican authorities, we will resume full operations from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday 24 February.
“Operations from Toronto to Guadalajara will resume on 25 February.
“To help get customers home as soon as possible, we’re flying larger Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from Toronto and Montreal to Puerto Vallarta, for 258 seats of added capacity.”
The Canadian airline told passengers not to go to the airport unless they had positive confirmation of their new flights operating. For travellers with bookings to the two Mexican airports before the end of the month, Air Canada is offering “a flexible re-booking policy”.
Journey Latin America, one of the UK’s leading specialists on the region said the situation is gradually calming, with public transport resuming.
The company’s product manager, David Nichols, said: “The scale of events in Mexico this week are unprecedented, and we are encouraged to see the situation beginning to settle throughout the country.
“Our priority is always to make sure our clients are safe: Mexico is a vast country, and most of the places that our clients travel – including archaeological sites, colonial towns and extraordinary natural landscapes – remain unaffected.”
The company does not have travellers in the areas added by the Foreign Office to its “no-go” list.
Guadalajara is one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup. Fifa says it is “closely monitoring” the situation in the city ahead of the planned first match on 11 June.
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